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Rigor Sardonicous
Rigor Sardonicous (Latin for "Rigid and Sardonic") is an American funeral doom metal band from Long Island, New York, which was founded in 1988. They are one of the earliest doom metal bands that are still active today, along with Novembers Doom and Evoken. Instead of having a real drummer, the band uses a Boss DR-660 Dr. Rhythm drum machine on most of their recordings. History The band was founded in 1988 by singer and guitarist Joseph J. Fogarazzo and bassist Glenn Hampton. In 1999, they released their debut album Apocalypsis Damnare, which followed after a split release in 2002, in 2004, they released their second album Principia Sardonica. In 2005, Apocalypsis Damnare was re-recorded and released. The same happened in 2006 when their debut demo Risus ex Mortuus was re-recorded and released via the Russian label Endless Desperation Productions. In 2008 and 2012, the next two studio albums followed with Vallis ex Umbra de Mortuus and Ego Diligio Vos. In 2012 they released a live album titled Vivescere Exitium on compact cassette with an edition of 200 copies. The recordings came from a New York concert on August 14, 2009. The concert is also available since 2009 as a free download. Musical style and influences Musical style According to Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic, the band plays "dark funeral doom". The drumming is extremely slow and is taken over by a drum machine. In his review of the newly recorded version of Apocalypsis Damnare, Ignacio Coluccio of maelstromzine.com wrote that "you can now hear a better division between vocals and electric guitar. The band plays a goregrind version of funeral doom, with tuned-down guitars, drum machines, and vocals altered by pitch shifters. However, unlike goregrind, the songs are only between 40 and 60 bpm. The songs sounded heavily influenced by bands like Thergothon and Disembowelment. If you were on technically sophisticated or majestic-sounding doom metal, you would find the music terrible and untalented." Neil Pretorius of metal-observer.com described the music on Ego Diligio Vos as "a classic funeral doom sound used by bands like Skepticism and Thergothon as comparisons. The electric guitar and drums are extremely sluggish and the growling is scary and almost impossible to understand. In songs like "Hilarus Sperablis", however, one almost has the feeling to hear a song by God Is an Astronaut. The song thus fluctuates between beautiful and oppressive atmospheres. Pretorius drew a comparison to The Beauty and the Beast. In addition, the album is riddled with repetitions." Influences Rigor Sardonicous was influenced by bands like Winter, Disembowelment and Khanate. They are also influenced by slow parts of death metal bands like Obituary and Autopsy. Members Current members * Joseph Fogarazzo – vocals, guitar * Glenn Hampton – bass Past members * Ryan Böhlmann – session drums * Gabe Madsen – drums (1988–1991) * Steve Moran – bass (2004–2005) Discography Studio albums * Apocalypsis Damnare (1999) * Principia Sardonica (2004) * Vallis ex Umbra de Mortuus (2008) * Ego Diligio Vos (2012) Demos * Risus ex Mortuus (1994) EPs and splits * The Forgotten / Rigor Sardonicous (Split with The Forgotten, 2002) * Amores Defunctus Tuus Mater (Split with Dimentianon, 2007) * I / Neo-pessimism (Split with Persistence in Mourning, 2010) * Ridenti Mortuus (EP, 2018) Live albums * Vivescere Exitium (2011) Singles * "God of Thunder" (Kiss cover) (2006) * "Chorale" (Skepticism cover) (2007) * "Mad World" (Tears for Fears cover) (2008) * "I" (2018) External links * Rigor Sardonicous on Bandcamp * Rigor Sardonicous on Facebook Category:Band Category:USA Category:Doom Metal Category:Funeral Doom Metal Category:Long Island Category:New York